Geomagnetic Disturbance and the Troposphere

Abstract

THERE have been many searches for a possible influence of solar or magnetic disturbance on the troposphere, either for a direct effect or for one operating indirectly through propagation downwards from the upper to the lower atmosphere. Due to the many complex and variable factors involved, it has not proved easy to establish any clear-cut evidence for such effects. Recently there have been suggestions for coupling in the reverse direction, namely that perturbations in the troposphere may produce significant effects at ionospheric levels. Consideration of the overall energy involved would indeed indicate that this process is probably more likely than coupling downwards from above. That propagation of disturbances from the troposphere to ionospheric levels can occur has been conclusively demonstrated in the case of waves generated in the lower atmosphere from nuclear explosions^1,2.